FERC-725R 60-day notice issued 8 21 2020

Document Accession #: 20200821-3016

Filed Date: 08/21/2020

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION
[Docket No. IC20-23-000]
COMMISSION INFORMATION COLLECTION ACTIVITIES
(FERC-725R);
COMMENT REQUEST
(August 21, 2020)
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.
SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting
public comment on the information collection FERC-725R (Mandatory Reliability
Standards: BAL Reliability Standards) and will be submitting the information collection
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.
DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due [INSERT DATE 60
DAYS AFTER DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER].
ADDRESSES: A copy of the comments should be submitted to the Commission, in
Docket No. IC20-23-000, by one of the following methods:
 eFiling at Commission’s Web Site: http://www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/efiling.asp

Document Accession #: 20200821-3016

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Docket No. IC20-23-000
 U.S. Postal Service Mail: Persons unable to file electronically may mail
similar pleadings to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First
Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426.
 Effective 7/1/2020, delivery of filings other than by eFiling or the U.S.
Postal Service should be delivered to Health and Human Services, 12225
Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 20852.
Instructions:
All submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with submission guidelines at
http://www.ferc.gov. For user assistance, contact FERC Online Support by e-mail at
ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov, or by phone at: (866) 208-3676 (toll-free).
Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of activity in this docket or in
viewing/downloading comments and issuances in this docket may do so at
http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at DataClearance@FERC.gov, and telephone at (202) 502-8663.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: FERC-725R, Mandatory Reliability Standards: BAL Reliability Standards.1
OMB Control No.: 1902-0268

1

In Docket No. RD20-9-000, Reliability Standard BAL-003-2 is being considered
for approval. (A Notice requesting comments on the changes proposed in Docket No.
RD20-9-000 is posted in eLibrary at
https://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/OpenNat.asp?fileID=15605347.) Those
changes are addressed separately in Docket No. RD20-9-000 and are not addressed in this
notice in Docket No. IC20-23-000.
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Document Accession #: 20200821-3016

Filed Date: 08/21/2020

Docket No. IC20-23-000
Type of Request: Three-year renewal request for the FERC-725R information collection
requirements, with no changes to the reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Abstract:
On August 8, 2005, Congress enacted into law the Electricity Modernization Act
of 2005, which is Title XII, Subtitle A, of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005).2
EPAct 2005 added a new section 215 to the FPA, which required a Commission-certified
Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to develop mandatory and enforceable
Reliability Standards, which are subject to Commission review and approval. Once
approved, the Reliability Standard may be enforced by the ERO subject to Commission
oversight, or the Commission can independently enforce Reliability Standards.3
On February 3, 2006, the Commission issued Order No. 672, implementing
section 215 of the FPA.4 Pursuant to Order No. 672, the Commission certified one
organization, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), as the ERO.5

2

Energy Policy Act of 2005, Pub. L. No. 109-58, Title XII, Subtitle A, 119 Stat.
594, 941 (codified at 16 U.S.C. 824o).
3

16 U.S.C. 824o(e)(3).

4

Rules Concerning Certification of the Electric Reliability Organization; and
Procedures for the Establishment, Approval, and Enforcement of Electric Reliability
Standards, Order No. 672, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,204, order on reh’g, Order No.
672-A, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,212 (2006).
5

North American Electric Reliability Corp., 116 FERC ¶ 61,062, order on reh’g
and compliance, 117 FERC ¶ 61,126 (2006), order on compliance, 118 FERC ¶ 61,190,
order on reh’g, 119 FERC ¶ 61,046 (2007), aff’d sub nom. Alcoa Inc. v. FERC, 564 F.3d
1342 (D.C. Cir. 2009).
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Document Accession #: 20200821-3016

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Docket No. IC20-23-000
The Reliability Standards developed by the ERO and approved by the Commission apply
to users, owners and operators of the Bulk-Power System as set forth in each Reliability
Standard.
FERC-725R includes the following nation-wide Reliability Standards:6
•

BAL-001-2,7 Real Power Balancing Control Performance.
Reliability Standard BAL-001-2 is designed to ensure that applicable entities
balance generation and load by maintaining system frequency within narrow
bounds around a scheduled value, and it improves reliability by adding a
frequency component to the measurement of a Balancing Authority’s Area Control
Error (ACE).8

•

BAL-002-3,9 Disturbance Control Standard – Contingency Reserve for Recovery
from a Balancing Contingency Event.
This standard ensures that a responsible entity, either a balancing authority or
reserve sharing group, is able to recover from system contingencies by deploying

6

There are also regional BAL Reliability Standards. They are not included in
FERC-725R and are not discussed here. The regional BAL Reliability Standards are
covered under other OMB Control Nos.
7

It was approved in Docket No. RM14-10.

8

Area Control Error is the “instantaneous difference between a Balancing
Authority’s net actual and scheduled interchange, taking into accounts the effects of
Frequency Bias, correction for meter error, and Automatic Time Error Correction
(ATEC), if operating in the ATEC mode. ATEC is only applicable to Balancing
Authorities in the Western Interconnection.” NERC Glossary.
9

It was approved in Docket No. RD18-7.
4

Document Accession #: 20200821-3016

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Docket No. IC20-23-000
adequate reserves to return their Area Control Error to defined values and
replacing the capacity and energy lost due to generation or transmission equipment
outages.
•

BAL-003-1,10 Frequency Response and Frequency Bias Setting.
This standard requires sufficient Frequency Response from the Balancing
Authority (BA) to maintain Interconnection Frequency within predefined bounds
by arresting frequency deviations and supporting frequency until the frequency is
restored to its scheduled value. It also ensures that balancing authority’s
Frequency Bias Setting is accurately calculated to match its actual Frequency
Response. It provides consistent methods for measuring Frequency Response and
determining the Frequency Bias Setting. Each balancing authority reports its
previous year Frequency Response Measure and Frequency Bias Setting to NERC
via FRS (Frequency Response Survey) Form 1. The information provided on the
FRS Form 1 is based on events which qualify for analyses; NERC identifies
between 20 to 35 events in each Interconnection for calculating the Frequency
Response Measure and Frequency Bias Setting.

•

BAL-005-1,11 Balancing Authority Control.
This standard establishes requirements for acquiring data necessary to calculate
Reporting Area Control Error (Reporting ACE). The standard also specifies a

10

It was approved in Docket No. RM13-11; the current version is Reliability
Standard BAL-003-1.1.
11

It was approved in Docket No. RM16-13.
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Docket No. IC20-23-000
minimum periodicity, accuracy, and availability requirement for acquisition of the
data and for providing the information to the System Operator. It requires
balancing authorities to maintain minimum levels of annual availability of 99.5%
for each balancing authority system for calculating Reporting ACE.
Type of Respondent: Balancing Authorities, .Response Sharing Group, and Frequency
Response Sharing Group.
Estimate of Annual Burden:12 Our estimate of the number of respondents affected is
based on the NERC Compliance Registry as of July 17, 2020.13 According to the
Compliance Registry, NERC has registered 97 Balancing Authorities (BA), 11 Response
Sharing Groups (RSG), and 1 Frequency Response Sharing Group (FRSG) within the
United States, as noted. The burden estimates reflect the number of affected entities for
each standard. Estimates for the average annual burden and cost14 follow.

12

Burden is defined as the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by
persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a federal
agency. See 5 CFR 1320 for additional information on the definition of information
collection burden.
13

NERC Compliance Registry (July 17, 2020), available at
https://www.nerc.com/pa/comp/Registration%20and%20Certification%20DL/NERC_Co
mpliance_Registry_Matrix_Excel.xlsx
14

The hourly cost estimates are based on wage data from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics for May 2019 (at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits
data for Dec. 2019 (issued March 2020, at
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). The hourly costs (for wages and
benefits) are for: Electrical Engineer (Occupation code 17-2071), $70.19; and
Information and Record Clerk (Occupation code 43-4199), $41.03.
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Document Accession #: 20200821-3016

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Docket No. IC20-23-000

FERC-725R

Function
BA
Reporting
Requirements
BA
Recordkeeping
Requirements
BA & RSG
Reporting
Requirements
BA & RSG
Recordkeeping
Requirements
BA & FRSG
Reporting
Requirements
BA & FRSG
Recordkeeping
Requirements
BA
Reporting
Requirements
BA
Recordkeeping
Requirements

Number &
Type of
Respondents
(1)

Number of
Annual
Responses
Total No.
per
of Annual
Respondent Responses
(2)
(1)x(2)=(3)
BAL-001-2

97
97

1
1
BAL-002-3

108
108

1
1
BAL-003-1.1

98
98

28
1
BAL-005-1

97

1

97

1

7

Average
Burden
Hours &
Cost ($) Per
Response
(4)

Total Annual
Burden Hours
& Total Annual
Cost ($)
(3)x(4) =(5)

97

8 hrs.;
$561.52

776 hrs. ;
$54,467.44

97

4 hrs.;
$164.12

388 hrs.;
$15,919.64

108

8 hrs.;
$561.52

864 hrs. ;
$60,644.16

108

4 hrs.;
$164.12

432 hrs.;
$17,724.96

2,744

8 hrs.;
$561.52

21,952 hrs.;
$1,540,810.88

98

2 hrs.;
$82.06

196 hrs.;
$8,041.88

97 1 hr.; $70.19

97 hrs.;
$6,808.43

97

97 hrs.;
$3,979.91

1 hr.;$41.03

Document Accession #: 20200821-3016

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Docket No. IC20-23-000
SUB-TOTAL
FOR
REPORTING
REQUIREME
NTS
SUB-TOTAL
FOR
RECORDKEE
PING
REQUIREME
NTS
TOTAL FOR
FERC-725R
(rounded)

23,689 hrs.;
$1,662,730.91

1,113 hrs.;
$45,666.39
24,802 hrs.;
$1,708,397

Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) whether the collection of information is
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including
whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency’s
estimate of the burden and cost of the collection of information, including the validity of
the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and
clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on those who are to respond, including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.

8

Document Accession #: 20200821-3016

Filed Date: 08/21/2020

Document Content(s)
725R_60-day renewal_8-13-2020.DOCX........................................1